A new year has just begun, but there is
nothing new about white supremacy and the ways in which it does terrible
damage to the lives of black Americans. White "journalists" on national
television advocate executing black people who have committed a crime,
any crime at all. Women unjustly imprisoned for 16 years are freed on
the condition that one give up a kidney, an obvious violation of the
law.Black
farmers caught in a cycle of discriminatory practices never attain true
justice, no matter how often the courts or Congress say they have.

Time after time we see that even when
black people appear to be victorious, they usually are not. National
football league quarterback Michael Vick lost his job, his assets and
his freedom after a felony conviction for animal cruelty, but he has
still not suffered enough for the likes of many white Americans. His
success in bringing the Philadelphia Eagles to the NFL playoffs has only
engendered more hatred from the racists among us. That hatred went into
overdrive when it was reported that President Obama expressed support
for the Eagles organization in giving Vick an opportunity to return to his chosen career.

The overlay of an Obama opinion
supportive of Vick only inflamed already irate racists, who were
indignant that a black man should have a successful life after being
convicted of a crime. Some opined that Vick should be able to work, but
not in such a lucrative and prominent position. The absurdity and gall
that such foolishness should be openly expressed is the result of racism
and nothing more.

Not content to choose a job for Vick, right wing pundit Tucker Carlson spoke for many when he said that Vick should have been executed
for his crime. The sight of a black person who refuses to be punished
forever is still enough to make the Carlsons of the world idiotic and
insane with rage.

"Black farmers caught in a cycle of discriminatory practices never attain true justice."

Racists have more than a black sports
hero to seethe about. While Michael Vick was being killed in effigy,
seemingly good news in the quest for justice was not so good after all.
Black farmers have been struggling to receive just compensation for
years of discriminatory practices carried out by the Department of
Agriculture. Their court victory in the 1999 Pigford v. Glickman case was only partial. Many plaintiffs were left without compensation in the complicated settlement process.

After an additional eleven years of
struggle, President Obama signed a bill in December 2010 which settled
the amount of damages at $1.2 billion. Yet none of the farmers will
automatically receive the awards expected to range from $50,000 to
$250,000. They will first have to go before a mediator and prove that
they have been injured, before courts and auditors approve the awards.
The earliest date that any of the surviving farmers will collect is
expected to take place sometime in 2012.

The Scott sisters,
Gladys and Jamie, have been imprisoned in Mississippi for 16 years
after being convicted of committing an $11 robbery and then being
sentenced to life terms. They steadfastly maintained their innocence and
the only witnesses for the prosecution have recanted their testimony,
citing physical and other threats from local police. After months of
protests brought their case to national attention, Mississippi governor
Haley Barbour suspended their sentences on the condition that Gladys
donate her kidney to her sister Jamie, who is undergoing dialysis
treatments.

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"Right wing pundit Tucker Carlson spoke for many when he said that Vick should have been executed for his crime."

The governor's condition for suspending
the sentence is not only unethical, but also illegal. No one can be
compensated for or required to donate an organ. While Gladys volunteered
to make the donation for her sister, that willingness should not be a
condition for suspending the sentence. Haley Barbour's decision making
process isn't at all surprising. He recently made headlines when he
fondly reminisced about the old days of segregation. "I just don't
remember it as being that bad." Those days weren't bad for Barbour and
other white Mississippians, but that state was dragged kicking and
screaming away from upholding terror and legally sanctioned oppression
against its black residents.

The lessons to be drawn from the
predicaments of Michael Vick, the Scott sisters, and black farmers are
the same. Black people must always know that they will be in the
clutches of a racist system and they must know that fighting back is the
only option.

The lesson for 2011 is the same as it
always has been. Frederick Douglass said it best more than 100 years
ago. We must "Agitate, agitate, agitate." Agitation brought the Scotts
and the farmers tiny measures of justice. There will always be
discrimination, abuse of the criminal justice system and white feelings
of entitlement. If we remember Douglass' words we will neither be
surprised by the travesties which are visited upon us, nor will we be
confused about what we must do.

Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and maintains an edifying and frequently updated blog at freedomrider.blogspot.com. More of her work is also available at her Black Agenda Report (more...)